One of the problems that I have found at Kimberley Fellowship teaching expositionally is that we often look at a book of the bible one chapter at a time. When we do this we can fail to see the broader themes that are going on over multiple chapters or the whole book. For example, last week we looked at 1 Corinthians 8 and Paul’s encouragement to place our love for each other over what we consider to be our ethical freedoms. Next Sunday, in chapter 9 we will look at Paul’s treatment of himself as a minister of the gospel. It would be a mistake for us to separate the chapters since 9 is a personal example of the principle Paul was setting up in 8.
Things like inconsistent attendance, poor memories, weeks where guests preach, etc all make it difficult to fully realize the momentum of book. But as a listener there are are things you can do to more fully participate in preaching the Word. You are encouraged to be reading personally the book that is being taught on Sunday mornings. It is a very helpful practice to read from the beginning of the book being studied all the way till the end of the chapter to be preached on that Sunday. Note taking can also be helpful as it gives us some summaries to look back on and refresh our memories. Consistent attendance is obviously my desire, yet I am also well aware that inconsistency in not always do to apathetic hearts. We we are sick or away for even one week consider discussing the passage with someone who was in attendance. I am considering proving notes in a blog post each week that summarizes what was discussed.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Expository Preaching (part one)
Preaching in churches can look a number of different ways as you’ve probably noticed. The experience you’ll have in our church is teaching through a book of the Bible one section at a time and applying the message of those verses to our lives. It is a practice as old as Jesus and the apostle Paul (see Matthew 13:14-17 and Acts 28:23-28 for examples). Many of the most influential preachers in church history have used the messages of scripture as the basis for their content. D Martyn Lloyd-Jones spent 7 years preaching through Romans taking only a verse or two each Sunday. Charles Spurgeon, John Stott, John MacArthur, and Mark Driscoll also teach expositionally.
Alternatives to expository preaching are far outweighing it in recent days. Preachers are more often using personal stories and anecdotes to teach moral lessons. Topical preachers take an issue people have questions about and find verses that help advise. The unfortunate result of such preaching is that the message is limited to the preachers understanding and opinion.
An expository preacher spends hours each week studying what the scripture has to say. If his purpose is to listen to the text and apply it, God’s voice will be heard as the preacher hears it afresh each week. The choice of topics are also governed by God as the books of scripture set this schedule.
I personally began preaching expositionally as a pastor to high school students and found it to be effective. As a college student my pastor (and now father-law) told me that if I preach out of my own experiences and understanding I will exhaust them and have nothing left to say, but I will never be able to exhaust what is in the Bible. It has also come from my personal spiritual life. Christ began regenerating me when reading the epistles in high school. Since then I have read through books of the Bible applying their truths to my life.
The experience of the listener ought to focus on the text and then the heart. Working through the verses with the pastor is the listeners work. This involves shifting from weighing whether he or she agrees with the pastor to studying the verses to discover what God says. Once we have discovered this, open up your heart to apply this message to your life. Since preaching is done to a group, the application will be directed in a general sense. It is the listeners responsibility to deeply apply this application into their whole being.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” Hebrews 4:12
Alternatives to expository preaching are far outweighing it in recent days. Preachers are more often using personal stories and anecdotes to teach moral lessons. Topical preachers take an issue people have questions about and find verses that help advise. The unfortunate result of such preaching is that the message is limited to the preachers understanding and opinion.
An expository preacher spends hours each week studying what the scripture has to say. If his purpose is to listen to the text and apply it, God’s voice will be heard as the preacher hears it afresh each week. The choice of topics are also governed by God as the books of scripture set this schedule.
I personally began preaching expositionally as a pastor to high school students and found it to be effective. As a college student my pastor (and now father-law) told me that if I preach out of my own experiences and understanding I will exhaust them and have nothing left to say, but I will never be able to exhaust what is in the Bible. It has also come from my personal spiritual life. Christ began regenerating me when reading the epistles in high school. Since then I have read through books of the Bible applying their truths to my life.
The experience of the listener ought to focus on the text and then the heart. Working through the verses with the pastor is the listeners work. This involves shifting from weighing whether he or she agrees with the pastor to studying the verses to discover what God says. Once we have discovered this, open up your heart to apply this message to your life. Since preaching is done to a group, the application will be directed in a general sense. It is the listeners responsibility to deeply apply this application into their whole being.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” Hebrews 4:12
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
How many meanings?
Muslims, Jews, and Christians all consider the Bible to be scripture (although, Jews only consider the Old Testament scripture, and Muslims also consider the Koran scripture). And within each of those groups exist many divisions over how these scriptures should be read and applied.
For example, one of the points of greatest division in how Christians have read the Bible in the past 500 years has been over the passages on communion, in particular, 1 Corinthians 11. Questions that come from this text have produced varied answers. How often should we take it, who is allowed to take it, what are we eating, what happens when we take it, and what does it mean are all disputed. The same could be said on the issue of women in church ministry, a Christian’s responsibility to go to war, etc.
On such controversial issues there is an assumption that there is one correct view and the others are dead wrong. Yet when it comes to less controversial verses Christians in particular seem to have a greater openness to a number of appropriate responses.
Now, I know that it is a contradiction to both go to war and be a conscientious objector, so why do we think we can interpret other parts of the Bible any way we want? There are three basic approaches here. 1. The Bible is an inspirational book that can be interpreted any way. This has led to people killing each other in history, or as it is now, ‘I believe one thing and you believe another and we’re all ok’. 2. There can be a few meanings from one verse, but they don’t contradict each other. For example, 1 Corinthians 12:12 (the body is one and has many members) can refer both to the local church, as is clearly the context, but it can also refer to different church denominations, or members in a family. 3. The Bible has one meaning and we are limited to that. While we may not all agree on that meaning, there is only one. So 1 Corinthians 12:12 refers to the local church and while it may be a helpful concept elsewhere, those analogies only helpful, not scriptural.
Here’s how I see it. God exists and has made himself known to us in the Bible. We have no say in what he is like, how he instructs our life, etc. If we choose to ‘make up our own God’ he is just a part of our imagination. The relationship then is God as our creator, and we as his creation. We can’t create God, he knows us, he tells us who he is. Because I see it this way I think we are forever stuck asking the Bible the question, what does it mean. Our answer cannot be plural.
My whole response to the Bible since I read it in my late teens was to search for this singular meaning. It has been my goal to keep the voices of religions out of my head and let God speak for himself. My path has led me to a lot of study, work in the original languages, church life, hard questions, and at times hard stances, but I feel mostly honest about how I’ve approached the text. The text has shaped me, not the other way around.
My Christian friends don’t like it when I tell them that the context of a verse doesn’t allow them to interpret it they way they did. But is it really Christian to read and interpret however we like? That seems more like each ‘christian’ is developing their own religion, rather than getting to know God for who he is.
For example, one of the points of greatest division in how Christians have read the Bible in the past 500 years has been over the passages on communion, in particular, 1 Corinthians 11. Questions that come from this text have produced varied answers. How often should we take it, who is allowed to take it, what are we eating, what happens when we take it, and what does it mean are all disputed. The same could be said on the issue of women in church ministry, a Christian’s responsibility to go to war, etc.
On such controversial issues there is an assumption that there is one correct view and the others are dead wrong. Yet when it comes to less controversial verses Christians in particular seem to have a greater openness to a number of appropriate responses.
Now, I know that it is a contradiction to both go to war and be a conscientious objector, so why do we think we can interpret other parts of the Bible any way we want? There are three basic approaches here. 1. The Bible is an inspirational book that can be interpreted any way. This has led to people killing each other in history, or as it is now, ‘I believe one thing and you believe another and we’re all ok’. 2. There can be a few meanings from one verse, but they don’t contradict each other. For example, 1 Corinthians 12:12 (the body is one and has many members) can refer both to the local church, as is clearly the context, but it can also refer to different church denominations, or members in a family. 3. The Bible has one meaning and we are limited to that. While we may not all agree on that meaning, there is only one. So 1 Corinthians 12:12 refers to the local church and while it may be a helpful concept elsewhere, those analogies only helpful, not scriptural.
Here’s how I see it. God exists and has made himself known to us in the Bible. We have no say in what he is like, how he instructs our life, etc. If we choose to ‘make up our own God’ he is just a part of our imagination. The relationship then is God as our creator, and we as his creation. We can’t create God, he knows us, he tells us who he is. Because I see it this way I think we are forever stuck asking the Bible the question, what does it mean. Our answer cannot be plural.
My whole response to the Bible since I read it in my late teens was to search for this singular meaning. It has been my goal to keep the voices of religions out of my head and let God speak for himself. My path has led me to a lot of study, work in the original languages, church life, hard questions, and at times hard stances, but I feel mostly honest about how I’ve approached the text. The text has shaped me, not the other way around.
My Christian friends don’t like it when I tell them that the context of a verse doesn’t allow them to interpret it they way they did. But is it really Christian to read and interpret however we like? That seems more like each ‘christian’ is developing their own religion, rather than getting to know God for who he is.
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